The Solution to Our Son's Eczema

How Our Knowing the Difference Between Soap and
Detergent Saved Our Son from Severe Eczema

When our happy, smiling baby broke out all over with the itchy,
angry red rash we eventually knew as eczema, we wanted a solution.

When nothing worked, we determined to track down the cause
ourselves. It took us four months of detailed detective work. We were
able to eliminate the eczema by eliminating the irritant — to our
surprise, it was just one thing — but it was in everything.

A Detergent Sensitivity — Not Soap, Detergent

The cause was detergent. Not a single product, not just in the
laundry, but traces of detergents of all types, in our clothing,
linens, towels, on our dishes, pots, and pans, on all washed household
surfaces, furniture, dust, our hair, skin, and even our food.
Eliminating it proved much more difficult than simply switching washing
products, rinsing more, or using only water.

After discussions with chemists, microbiologists, and an extensive
review of relevant scientific literature, I believe the reaction stems
from how skin and other membranes are affected, especially the highly
permeable skin of infants. The reaction is not a true allergy, nor were
detergents just another "trigger" — though I believe the impact on skin
and other membranes significantly increases allergic sensitization.

Helping Other Children With the Same Problem

Since helping our son, this solution has helped many other parents
whose children proved to have the same problem, including Denise and
Alan Fields, the authors of best-selling books Baby Bargains
and Baby 411. (Link to their letter.)
The solution was also inspiration to author/mom Jill Schoff for her
green cleaning book Green Up Your Clean Up. (Link to her letter.)

Eczema has different causes. This solution will not help everyone
with eczema. But if the detergent sensitivity described here is the
cause of your child’s eczema, this solution could allow you to
eliminate the eczema completely.

I have written a letter describing the
problem which has been published with minor changes in the newsletters
of the National Eczema Association for Science and Education (NEASE) [www.nationaleczema.org]
and the Eczema Association of Australasia (EAA) [www.eczema.org.au].
In 2006, Allergy & Asthma Today Magazine did a cover story in their
summer issue [www.aanma.org].

Simple Solution, Difficult to Discern

It likely accounts for 25-60% of eczema, depending on the age group
and locality, higher if other allergies and an inherited predisposition are factors. Discerning detergent exposures as the underlying cause in
any given case is eminently non-obvious.

The solution was simple, but implementing it was difficult. If you think this solution might help you,
please read the Disclaimer, the About This Site page, and carefully consider
the information provided in those, The Problem,
and The Solution pages. Please let me
know if it helps, or if the general information leads you to a solution
to your child's eczema, even if it is different than this one.

An Asthma Solution, Too

The underlying mechanism for this type of eczema would also amplify
asthma and allergies. This solution will not cure asthma, but could substantially
minimize it. I have heard from parents who got a child's
asthma under control with these measures, even for children who
never had eczema. This information may be of interest to anyone with
allergies or asthma, even dry or fragile skin, whether or not eczema is an issue.

Questions and Feedback

This web site is a labor of love; it is here because I want every
child possible to know what it's like to grow up without the itching,
the rashes, the infections. I apologize, but I do not have the
resources to help people individually. The first week my letter came
out in the NEASE Advocate newsletter, I received a hundred emails, and
they kept coming in. I invite feedback,
though, and if you have a question or want to share your experience, I
read every email. I may not be able to respond quickly, but I will do
what I can. Please first read everything that is here already, chances
are, the information is here.

Since putting up the site, I have received wonderful, powerful, and touching feedback and thank
you letters on a regular basis from parents who cleared up a child's
eczema — and often the skin problems of an adult in the household at
the same time — with the information on this site.